Phew! We finally got a win against the LA Sparks on camp day, 80-63 (possibly our first truly commanding win of the season?). Courtney Williams led the way with 21 points.
Before that win, things were looking pretty bleak for the Sky. From Annie Costabile at the Sun-Times:
“For weeks, the Sky haven’t looked like the fiery, defensive-minded team that started the WNBA season 5-3.
But that’s what could happen after the dust settles on a new season. Teams’ identities fall into place while others’ fall apart, and the Sky have joined the latter group. It’s not just that they have a five-game losing streak going back to June 9. It’s the way they’re losing games. They’ve shown stretches of diminished effort and energy that signals Sky coach/general manager James Wade’s rebuilt roster has bigger issues than its lack of cohesion and continuity.”
During our 80-59 loss to the Washington Mystics last week, sitting in Wintrust felt like being at the dentist. The Sky looked as though they had never played together before, like not even at the park.
I was confronted with the possibility that this may be a long season, and was sort of at a loss for how to respond. Sky fans have been spoiled the last two years: we won the WNBA championship in 2021 and had the best regular season record in 2022. Now that we were struggling…what should I do? Be pissed? Sad? Critical? Defensive?
Learning How To Cope When Your Team is Losing Games
I needed a refresher course in how to handle bad times. So the first thing I did was reach out to a Minnesota sports fan (sorry Minnesota sports!), who had a very Minnesotan response.
“It’s almost like making it through a really tough winter. You know you don’t really have another option. You have to weather the storm, sleet, and snow and hope for spring time. Maybe you buy another winter jacket to bulk up or you embrace the cold and just go with it. I think I’m getting lost in my metaphor now, but the gist of it is that sometimes your team sucks, but that’s okay, because everyone loves an underdog story so the worse you are, the bigger the reward is in the end.”
Her winter wisdom reminded me that being a fan is supposed to be grueling sometimes, which helped me make sense of something I’d been struggling with. During the Sky’s painful loss to the Mystics, I asked myself: why am I doing this? Isn’t it kind of weird to pay money to be anxious for two hours, which is what ends up happening if you attend games of a beloved, but underperforming team?
Professional sports are so different from other live events, where we pay money and can safely expect to be pleasantly entertained. We buy Taylor Swift tickets, she prepares her songs and then gives her fans a good time. We buy Sky tickets, they prepare and try to give their fans a good time, but another team tries to thwart them and give us a bad time. What a weird system!
So maybe I need to accept that going to sporting events isn’t about having a good time, it’s about choosing to enter into a relationship with your team and riding the emotional rollercoaster with them, through good times and bad.
As the Minnesota sports fan put it:
“If I wanted to be pleasantly entertained, I’d watch a rom com.”
Against the Sparks, when the Sky finally stopped playing selfish, lackadaisical basketball and returned to doing team-oriented things such as “making the extra pass” and “sprinting back on defense,” it was such a relief. It felt like I’d been reborn along with the Sky. As with other things in life, the bad experiences give meaning to the good ones.
It’s Harder for Women’s Sports Fans
The Chicago Red Stars (our pro women’s soccer team) are also going through a rough patch. After making the playoffs for seven consecutive seasons, the Red Stars lost their top-goal scorer to injury and currently sit in last place in the league.
One Red Stars season-ticker holder highlighted two reasons why it’s harder for women’s sports fans to watch their team struggle: 1) there’s an obligation for us to argue for the legitimacy of our sport, which is easier when our team is playing well and 2) there’s always the existential threat of our team or league folding. Says the Red Stars fan:
“For the Red Stars right now, it’s more than just, ahh rebuilding year, some of our players might get traded. It’s like: What if they wanna sell the team? What if people stop coming to games, when we don’t even have a lot of fans to begin with. The potential for your sport not being legitimate anymore is at stake when this kind of season is happening.”
Though the Sky are probably more financially secure than the Red Stars, I think this dynamic lingers beneath the surface for the Townies too. We’re always trying to convert basketball fans into WNBA fans, because it almost seems like we have to if we want the league to succeed. But most people already have their teams from childhood and aren’t looking to expand their fandom.
At least if the Sky are playing well we can say, “Hey come watch the Sky with me, they’re really good this season.” Laments the Red Stars fan:
“The Sky, the Red Stars, the women’s teams used to be the best teams in Chicago. That’s cool, because there are a lot of sports teams in Chicago. So there was a strong argument that people should watch them.”
This season it’s tougher to get anyone to care.
Our next game is TODAY Friday June 30th @ 7p.m. against the LA Sparks at Wintrust Arena!!! See you all there.